this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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Magic Earth is an alternative to Waze and Google Maps with crowdsourced traffic and road hazard information (social.goodanser.com)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by zak@social.goodanser.com to c/technology@lemmy.world
10 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Magic Earth is an alternative to Waze and Google Maps with crowdsourced traffic and road hazard information

As part of a #BigTechDiet, I've been hoping to find an alternative to #Waze and #Google Maps - a navigation app that can tell me about slowdowns, hazards, and speed traps based on reports from other users. Today, I learned about Magic Earth.

It's proprietary, but not from FAANG or a company subject to the government of China, Russia, or Five Eyes countries. It collects minimal user data and has a good privacy policy. There are versions for both Android and iOS, and the Android version works without Google services.

https://www.magicearth.com/

#navigation #maps #Android #IOS #AndroidApp #IOSApp @technology

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[–] theplanlessman@feddit.uk 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

An intriguing idea, but they seem a little vague about where they're actually getting their traffic data from, just a "third party". For crowd-sourced traffic data to be at all useful it needs to be coming from software that a lot of drivers happen to have on their phones, so I wouldn't be surprised if Google or Apple aren't to be found somewhere in the pipeline.

[–] vittoria666@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I’m from the US and I looked on the iOS App Store. It says that it is not available in my region.

[–] zak@social.goodanser.com 2 points 2 years ago

@vittoria666 That's surprising since it does report feature availability in the USA and Canada. It doesn't seem to have a regional restriction on Google Play so maybe there's a delay on Apple's side.

I hope American iOS users won't have to wait until the EU forces Apple to allow sideloading.

[–] TheProtector0034@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I would say just buy TomTom Go, only 20 euros a year and no Google BS. Or if you really don't want to pay use Amigo, it's also from TomTom with the same life traffic etc.

[–] Zerfallen@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Gonna give it a shot, but I'm sure i already tried some time ago. So desperate to get away from Google Maps.

[–] nodsocket@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Just use OSMAnd for navigation. It's open source and has tons of features.

[–] zak@social.goodanser.com 6 points 2 years ago

@nodsocket I've used it. Organic Maps as well.They're great apps and I really appreciate their ability to work entirely offline.

They don't have real-time traffic information, road hazards, and speed traps. It's nice having an option that does without being from FAANG.

[–] TimD553@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago

Not available in Canada

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago

No maps on the web page. 90% of my maps usage is quashed.